Force alone will not lead to Israel's security, France says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's security cannot be guaranteed with military force alone and will require a diplomatic solution, France's foreign minister said on Monday, and Paris would continue efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Speaking at the end of a four-day tour of the Middle East, Jean-Noel Barrot was in Israel on Monday to mark a year since Palestinian Islamist Hamas militants crossed into Israel killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage back to Gaza.

The assault triggered an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. The war has spread conflict across the region with Israel stepping up military operations over its northern border in Lebanon against Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.

"Force alone cannot guarantee the security of Israel, your security. Military success cannot be a substitute for a political perspective," Barrot told a news conference in Jerusalem.

"To bring the hostages home to their loved ones, to allow the displaced to return home in the north (of Israel), after a year of war, the time for diplomacy has come."

Barrot's arrival in Israel, where about 180,000 French citizens live, came at a tricky time in Franco-Israeli relations after President Emmanuel Macron was firmly rebuffed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend.

Macron had called for a de facto arms embargo on Israel and, in a veiled attack on the U.S., said countries that both supplied weapons and called for a ceasefire where they were being used in conflict were being incoherent. French arms supplies to Israel are minimal.

Barrot reiterated that it was odd to call for a ceasefire while giving offensive weapons. He said that France, as a staunch defender of Israel's security, felt it was vital to be frank about the ongoing suffering of civilians in Gaza, but also the military operation now in southern Lebanon.

France worked with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon at the end of September. Diplomatic sources had at the time believed this had secured a temporary truce, a day before Israel heavily bombed Beirut's southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

"We have a responsibility to act today to avoid Lebanon finding itself in a short horizon in a dramatic situation like Syria found itself a few years ago," Barrot said.

Ceasefire proposals put forward together with Washington remain on the table, he said.

(Reporting by John Irish; editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Mark Heinrich)

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